JP3034023B2 - Carriage of card press machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An embossing machine and method is provided in which the mass of the carriage assembly carrying the card to and from various operations in the machine is significantly reduced by the utilization of a card carrying carriage mounted for movement in one direction from side to side on the machine via a stationary motor. The carriage is mounted on a guide bar which, together with the carriage, moves from the front to the back of the machine via a stationary motor. A new card supply hopper is arranged to stack cards vertically and feed them to the carriage one-by-one as the carriage approaches the hopper. An embossing assembly is operated by a single interposer arranged in a crank drive or two interposers arranged between actuating levers and the rams of associated male and female embossing wheels. A topper assembly minimizes foil usage by winding up only that foil which has been used during the topping of the previous card. The embossed and topped card is fed to a stacking assembly either through an arrangement of wires which causes the card to waterfall into a stacker channel or to slide into contact with a pivoting loader which pivots the card into a stacker channel.

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an improved stamping machine and method.
More specifically, the invention is an improved relatively light weight, compact in construction, and quiet operation due to the simplification of the mechanism used to supply voltage to some operating assemblies in the machine. It relates to a credit card type pressing machine. The method of the present invention minimizes area, eliminates unnecessary features,
Then, a stamping operation is provided to improve the operating characteristics of the machine.

BACKGROUND ART Credit card presses are known. But,
They all have a large weight and / or result in excessive noise, low speed, complex processing, low responsiveness or high energy consumption.
Or it has one or more disadvantages that result in a complex mechanism of space. Some of these disadvantages also result in high mechanical costs or unnecessary maintenance of the stamping mechanism as a result of repetitive operation using multiple mechanisms.

Increase the speed and reliability of these machines from earlier fully mechanical devices of the type shown in U.S. Patent Nos. 2,115,456, 2,463,690 and 2,973,853 On the other hand, continuous efforts have been made to reduce complexity and energy consumption. For example, US Pat. No. 3,638,563
The issue describes an effort to eliminate the cost and complexity of a machine in which a plurality of male and female stamping wheels are positioned at the same time as the selected letter, and then the stamping die is closed on a plastic card. This creates a positioning and registration problem, the solution of which involves the use of multiple male press stamps, the actuation of which is performed by a computer to make a short stroke movement with respect to the corresponding female press die. Controlled.

Conventional stamping machines also do not account for material savings. For example, in a topper operation in which the foil is thermally attached to raised embossed characters in a credit card,
The topper foil was advanced in a certain way, regardless of the number of character lines topped. This created unnecessary waste of foil material when credit cards with a small number of lines or small character line spacing were being processed on a continuous basis.

Embossed credit card blanks usually have very tight tolerances, but it is found that there are tolerance variations from card to card. However, conventional machines, when positioning these cards from the feed hopper to the machine,
Tolerance variations cannot be accommodated properly and simply and there is a need for precise adjustment of the moving parts so that the card is accurately stamped in the desired area. As a result, certain reconciliation was required.

Many of the known automatic stamping machines are relatively expensive and of considerable size, making them particularly suitable for mass production of cards. Consequently, they are not particularly beneficial to low volume producers due to cost and size constraints. High volume stamping machines use a primary array of stamping elements, with one stamping module being assigned the task of stamping characters at a single corresponding stamping line on the card. This arrangement is satisfactory for high speed production, but requires good large real estate for the organization.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems and disadvantages encountered with conventional machines, and in particular to produce a stamping machine that is more compact and lighter and that meets the needs of both small and mass producers. It is.

By simplifying the movement of the card in the carriage and using the lateral movement of the carriage for actuation, reducing the number of components for actuating some mechanisms in the stamping machine has been realized. It is an object of the invention.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an effective stamping machine that uses only one intervention mechanism that can increase energy efficiency while reducing mechanical noise during the stamping operation.

It is yet another object of the present invention to use a toggle mechanism in a stamping device that eliminates the need for a clutch and allows the use of a mechanically simple arrangement that is timely with the rotation of the bias motor. It is.

It is yet another object of the present invention to minimize the number of positioning motors and simplify the transport of card blanks for processing.

These and other objects are to provide the present invention with the object to process a card blank in the "X" direction, i.e. from side to side of the machine, along the "X" axis, and in the "Y" direction, i.e. Achieved by the translational movement of the carriage, which conveys along the "Y" axis from front to back. The carriage mechanism is greatly simplified by making the "Y" movement of the carriage in the guide bar, so that the carriage mechanism is extremely lightweight. As a result, the motors for "X" and "" Y axis positioning are stationary and miniaturized, and move the carriage more quickly and accurately in the "X" and "Y" directions.

The stamping machine according to the present invention uses an extremely lightweight but accurate positioning carriage mechanism and does not require the holding of a positioning motor, thereby eliminating the unwanted extra mass normally associated with a carriage mechanism.

More particularly, the stamping machine according to the present invention provides a side-to-side movement of the magnetic encoding, stamping, and topper operations from the card supply hopper with a very small and lightweight carriage. . In addition, the card is held between the front and rear of the machine, passes through a carriage on which the cards from the various assemblies are mounted, and moves the carriage to actuate the tightening device and ejection mechanism to move the carriage to the side. Activate a very lightweight guide bar that moves from side to side. In addition, the entire carriage assembly moving from side to side and front to back of the machine has the fact that the motors that move the carriage assembly in both directions are stationary and are connected to the carriage assembly by lightweight cables and pulley arrangements. Due to having a very reduced mass.

The embossing machine according to the present invention substantially simplifies the embossing operation and allows the size of the embossing machine to be increased by supplying the card to be embossed in a direction perpendicular to the carriage. Shrink to range. For example, additional motors and mechanisms to operate a clamping device for clamping a blank card to a carriage are eliminated by the use of carriage movement to open and close the clamp, along with the ejection of defective cards to the reject stack.

The present invention also operates the stamping machine by a single intervening device mounted between the embossing mechanism and the toggle link of the motor, or by an intervening device located between the male and female rams and their respective operating levers. It has a considerably improved means for doing so. Another aspect of the invention is the incorporation of a topper assembly for topping or hot stamping foil over the embossed characters on the card, where the crank and ratchet mechanism only uses the foil used in the last topping operation. To avoid unnecessary picking up of the foil used during the topper operation.

A new card supply hopper is located on one side of the machine to hold the stack of cards in the vertical direction,
This reduces the horizontal real estate occupied by the machine. The card pushing mechanism is located at the bottom of the hopper and is activated by movement of the carriage towards the new card supply hopper. An overload spring is placed in the card pushing mechanism to ensure a small tolerance as occurs from blank card to blank card. As a result, even if the card is slightly larger, the spring will properly position the card in the clamping device without the need to adjust the mechanism. A protrusion is located at the front of the hopper and is designed to cooperate with a clamping mechanism on the carriage to close the clamping mechanism when the carriage approaches the hopper to pick up a card.

The embossing is carried out through an intervention mechanism arranged between the embossing machine motor and the embossing machine wheel or between the embossing machine and the embossing machine ram actuating lever. In the former arrangement, a single intervening device is needed to control the operation of the stamping mechanism. This arrangement is such that the sequence of moving the female diram to the dwell position before the press diram is moved to its final position, and thus moving the female and press dirams, in order to emboss the characters on the card, is a mechanical connection. It is directly controlled by the characteristics of the mechanism and not directly by the operation of the intervening device.

A toggle mechanism in the form of an upper and lower 4-bar coupling mechanism,
Eliminating the need for clutches and due to the short duration energy requirements needed for embossing,
The rotary energy stored in the flywheel is effectively used, thereby reducing the overall size of the embossing motor.

Ejection of the card after topping is performed by movement of a carriage that transports the new pressing card to a position for ultimate placement in the topping mechanism. Consequently, the stamping machine of the present invention uses the movement of the carriage itself and eliminates the need for a separate mechanism for card ejection. In addition, the coupling of the ejection of the topped card with the movement of the carriage containing the new stamping card provides a more aggressive sequential control for the stamping machine.

Stacking of cards after the completion of embossing and topping is achieved by the present invention by the efficient use of gravity to move the card to a specific orientation without additional motors and complicated mechanisms. Card stacking is accomplished in response to the carriage reaching the area of the topper assembly and withdrawing the topped cards from the topper assembly by translation in the forward direction of the machine.

In addition, for economical operation and elimination of other mechanisms, the embosser of the present invention uses a magnetic stripe encoding operation or embossing by a machine actuator operated by the "Y" axis translation of the carriage. A simple mechanism is provided for ejecting a defective card after completion of any of the attaching operations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a compact press in accordance with the present invention having several components, such as a stacker, rejection mechanism, and stack grooves, not shown for ease of illustration. .

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the compact pressing machine of FIG. 1, but showing an ejector mechanism according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 shows a cardboard drop and horizontal stacker, omitting some of the components such as the stamping machine shown in FIG. 1 for clarity.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the compact press of FIG. 1, but with some of the components shown in FIG. 1 omitted for clarity and better understanding; 6 shows another embodiment of a swivel plate.

FIG. 4A is a partial sectional side view of the assembly shown in FIG.

FIG. 4B is a view taken along line 4B-4B of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a typical movement cycle of the carriage mechanism of the compact press according to the present invention, including a discharge cycle.

FIG. 6 is a detailed front view of the stamping machine showing the carriage mechanism, stamping machine assembly and card hopper schematically depicted in FIG.

 FIG. 7 is a top view of the machine shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the machine shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 on the supply side of the new card hopper.

FIG. 9 is shown schematically in FIG. 1 and also shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of the stamping machine and the intervention mechanism shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10A is a separate detailed front view of the entrainer used in the intervention mechanism of FIG.

 FIG. 10B is a top view of the device shown in FIG. 10A.

FIG. 10C is a side view of the device shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B.

FIG. 11 is a detailed front view of the topper mechanism schematically shown in FIG.

 FIG. 12 is a side view of the topper mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a top view of the carriage assembly shown schematically in FIG.

Fig. 14 shows the new card hopper when viewed from the assembly side.
FIG. 14 is a side view of the carriage assembly shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is an opposing side view of the carriage assembly shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 16 is a detailed view of a spring mechanism associated with the carriage shown in FIGS. 13-15 for ejecting a card held on the carriage.

FIG. 17 is a detailed front view of the card drop schematically shown in FIG. FIG. 18 is a side view of the card drop shown in FIG. 17 where a card enters the stacker tray.

FIG. 19 is a plan view of the card stacker mechanism schematically shown in FIG. 20A-20C show a shutter mechanism in a carriage that illustrates carriage movement to achieve a neutral zone where carriage movement occurs in only one direction.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of a controller and related circuits for operating the positioning motor according to the present invention.

 FIG. 22 is a side view of another embodiment of the intervention mechanism.

 FIG. 23 is a front view of the intervention mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 24 is a top view of another embodiment of the carriage and clamping mechanism.

FIG. 25 is a side view of the carriage and the tightening mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 26 is a partial cross-sectional side view of the carriage of FIG. 24 associated with a clamp release cam in a topper assembly.

FIG. 27 is a partial side end view of the carriage of FIG. 24 in a modified reject stack.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings and in particular to FIG.
The compact press according to the invention, designated by 10, comprises a carriage assembly, generally designated by number 100, a new card feed hopper assembly, generally designated by number 200, and an intervention generally designated by number 300. A mechanism, a stamping machine assembly generally designated by the number 400, a topper assembly generally designated by the number 500, and a generally numbered 60 as shown in FIG.
Comprising a horizontal stack assembly designated by zero or an angle stacker assembly designated generally by the numeral 620 as shown in FIG. All of the aforementioned assemblies and parts are held together in a known manner by the frame 11 of the machine 10, which frame 11 does not form part of the invention except as described hereinafter.

Overall Operation of the Stamping Machine The basic stamping operation performed by the machine described above and described in further detail below is described below with reference to FIGS. 1-3. A new blank card 2 from the bottom of the stack of vertically arranged cards 202 is shown in FIG. 2 where the carriage 101 deposits the encoding and embossing cards 2 in the topper assembly 500 on the left side of the machine 10. As such, after the reject cards are deposited in the horizontal stacker groove 600 on the right side of the machine and the carriage 101 is aligned with an opening (not shown) at the bottom of the hopper 201 that is slightly larger than the thickness of the card 2, the hopper of the card hopper assembly 200 It is fed into an opening at the bottom of 201 and is partially pushed out of the hopper 201 into the movable carriage 101 of the carriage assembly 100 where the cards are fastened.

The clamping mechanism 132 in the carriage 101 may be activated by the combing action of the actuator 142 on the left side of the machine 10 when a good card is deposited on the topper assembly 500, or when a rejected card is dropped on the reject stack in the stacker groove assembly 600. Actuator 143 is actuated to open on the right side of the machine. In each case, the carriage 101 with the open clamping mechanism 132 is moved forward to the hopper 201, where the card picker mechanism 204 is actuated by the movement of the carriage assembly 100 to move the blank card 2 in the hopper 201. Pushing from the bottom of the stack 202, the carriage 101 is now engaged with the card and moved to bring the open clamping device 132 on the carriage 101 into the clamping fixed position of the card. By moving the carriage 101 to the hopper 201, the blank card 2 is securely clamped in the carriage 101 by closing the clamping device 132.

Then the carriage 101 is moved forward a short distance,
The blank card 2 is pulled completely from the hopper 201 to the left at the T-shaped carriage bar 102, where it is first sent through a conventional encoder 250 with a pulse counter 251 and Track read / write head 252 and hopper 2
From 01 defines the path through which the magnetic stripe in the currently selected blank card 2 travels, and data is appropriately recorded on the stripe by the head 252. The stripe data moves the carriage 101 forward. It is verified by returning the carriage 101 to the right side of the magnetic head 252 again, and in this case, the blank card 2 is
Aligned with head 252, again, counter 251 and head 25
Verify that it was conveyed through the path defined by 2 and was properly encoded in a known manner. Counter 25
The first wheel frictionally engages the surface of the blank card 2 by the urging of the spring loaded head 252, so that the counter is driven by friction and correct position information is detected. This detection process is repeated once if the first process is not verified. If the blank card 2 was not properly encoded, it will no longer be processed and, along with the other rejected cards, position 617 on the right of the stacker groove assembly 600 or 620 (second
FIG.) Or 627 (FIG. 3). However, once the blank card 2 has been properly encoded, the card blank 2 is moved to the left-hand embosser assembly 400, where the card blanks are female and male wheels 401, 402 (9th
(FIG. 1) and is embossed by actuating embossing rams 422, 423 cooperating with the die at the wheel in a generally known manner.

In the stamping machine assembly 400, an indentation operation on the card blank is performed if desired. Of course, embossing typically produces raised characters on the front side of the blank card 2, and indentation usually produces a lower-case indented surface on the opposite side of the card. Is known. Conversely, the indent ribbon 490 is typically a stamped assembly 400
To provide the indentation data on the card with a color that is emphasized or contrasted by the color of the rest of the blank card 2, so that the data is easily visible to those who inspect the card in an attempt to verify the information.

During embossing and / or indenting operations, if a card is considered disqualified, it is rejected and the horizontal stacker groove 600 (FIG. 2) or the angle stacker groove 620
(Figure 3) sent to the reject stacker on the right. When the blank card 2 is embossed and properly indented, it is again moved to the left topper assembly 500 on the carriage 101, where the pre-topped card is removed by the ejector mechanism 503. It is pulled forward by the carriage 101 and penetrates the stacker assembly 600 or 620. Carriage 101
Is moved further to the left, aligned with the topper table 502, and then moved forward to release the tightening device 132 by the actuator 142. Card 2 now embossed
Is moved rearward by the carriage 101 and placed on the topper table 502 in the topper assembly 500 below the foil. The topper ram 519 pushes the foil down onto the card and securely holds the card 2 on the table so that the carriage 101 can move forward and move again to the new card supply hopper 201, and the foil from the spool 501 It is topped by heat on the embossed character of the card 2.

The completed card is then removed from the topper assembly 500 when returning from the stamping machine assembly 400 along with the new blanking card on which the carriage 101 is topped, and the finished card is moved forward of the carriage 101. The ejector 503 actuated by the movement ejects from the platform 502 of the topper assembly 500 so that the cards from the topper platform 502 are removed from the stacker assembly 600 or 62.
It is made to invade 0 '.

Carriage Assembly The carriage assembly 100 shown schematically in FIG.
In the so-called "X" direction, indicated by the arrow in the foreground, includes the aforementioned carriage 101 which translates from side to side or side to side along a T-shaped, lightweight guide bar 102 in the so-called "X" direction. To provide a smooth translation of the carriage 101 in the "X" direction along the guide bar 102, the carriage is
Rollers 150 and 151 on one side of 101 and rollers 152 and 153 on the other side of carriage 101
Provided in mating and sliding relationship with 02 and entrain guide bar between four rollers. Hex stud 150 ', 15
1 ′, 152 ′, 153 ′ are respectively rollers 150, 151, 1
Provided for 52, 153, the rollers fix the bush and the shaft that rotate accurately.

The carriage 101 shown in FIG. 13 has an end face 16 which faces the blank card 2 on each side of the carriage 101 and is picked up by card engaging projections 161 and 162.
Has zero. The protrusions 161 and 162 are, as shown in FIG.
The cross section is U-shaped, and there is sufficient space between the legs forming the U-shape to form shelves 158, 159 on the top and bottom surfaces of the respective projections 161, 162, and the carriage 101 is provided with a new card supply hopper 201. Blank card 2 partially sent from
, And when the carriage 101 moves closer to the hopper 201, the blank card 2 is securely accommodated in the space defined between the upper and lower shelves of each projection. Projections 163, 164 from the body 138 forming the base of the carriage 101
Are provided at the U-shaped projections 161, 162 to provide a suitable space for the card blank 2, so that a card blank having an allowable variation is easily accommodated between the two projections without undue play. . The protrusions 163 and 164 near the corners of the protrusions 161 and 162 and the card blank 2,
Rounded to ensure smooth entry of the card blank 2 into the carriage 101 without damage to the card or long term wear of the carriage 101. Alternatively, the lip is slightly outwardly spread to prevent interference between the protrusion and the card.

The rigid U-shaped wire member 165 has legs 166, 167 connected by a slack portion 168. Each end of the legs 166, 167 is provided with a hook portion 168 in the form of a loop as shown in FIG. 16 so that an upright portion 169 is formed on each leg at the end 160 of the carriage assembly 101. You. The wire assembly 165 is connected to the body 138 of the carriage assembly 101 by a conventional bracket and has a bracket 170 having a U-shaped groove 175 at the end for receiving the legs 166, 167.
Allows the carriage 10 to slide freely but in a reliable manner
Kept under one. The two upright portions 169 have a spring 171 (only one of which is connected between looped hook portions 168).
16) and a downwardly projecting piece 172 dependent on a bracket 170 adjacent to the rollers 151, 153.
Normally pressed against side 160 of 101.

The end face 160 of the carriage assembly 101 has two concave portions 173, 174 in which the upright portion 169 is deflected by a spring 171 so that the card blank 2 has a protrusion in the L-shaped portion defined by the spacers 163, 164. Between 161 and 162, the seat is securely seated against the end face 160 of the carriage assembly 101 as indicated by the provisional line in FIG. Wire member 16
5 is when the reject card moves to the right in the “X” direction,
13 is slidable from the forward position shown by solid lines to the rear position shown by dotted lines, and the tightening device 132 comprises:
The cam is actuated by the latch actuator 143 (FIG. 2) by the forward movement of the carriage 101 in the "Y" direction. The further forward movement of the carriage causes the byte 168
Corresponds to an upright projection on the actuator 143 (shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2), where the blank card 2 is
As a result of the relative movement between the wire member 165 and the carriage 101 with respect to the pressing of the carriage 1
Pressed from 01. The upright portion 169 pushes the card from between the protrusions 161, 162 after the clamping device 132 has been released and the rejected card has been dropped into the reject stack.

The latch actuator 142 located on the topper assembly 500 also includes upstanding protrusions (shown in dashed lines) so that if the topper 500 is not used, the card
Is moved forward in the "Y" direction, causing the wire 165 to be pushed against the upright protrusion and the card to be pushed out of the carriage protrusions 161, 162, thereby dropping into the stack at the left of the machine 10.

The tightening device 132 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 13-15 and comprises a fixed jaw 190 and a movable jaw 198, which are deflected together by a compression spring 196 to provide a fixed jaw 190 and a movable jaw.
This causes a counterclockwise rotation about a pivot 199 that rotatably connects 198. The upwardly projecting tabs 178, 179 are provided on the upper surface of the carriage body 138, and the carriage 101
The front end 176 extends forward to a concave portion 177 provided at a central portion of the front end portion 176. The shaft 186 extends between the flanges 178, 179 and has a torsion spring 18 having one leg 188 for pressingly engaging a downwardly projecting latch 189 with a movable jaw 198 mounted thereon.
Hold 7.

A fixed clamping jaw 190 is provided on the top surface of the carriage 101 between the two plunges 178,179. A fixed jaw 190 extends rearward from a concave portion 177 at the front of the carriage 101 to a rear side 160, where the jaws 190 are
The card has a portion 191 extending beyond 160 and the card is moved backward by the carriage 101 in the "Y" direction.
After being partially pushed from 01, it can engage with the blank card 2 and cooperate with the movable jaw 198 to securely hold it. The jaw 190 is provided with two downwardly protruding members 192 and 193 on which the turning shaft 199 is supported.

Rollers 194 are rotatably mounted between the ends of a V-shaped bracket 195 mounted to the rear of the movable jaw 198 (when viewed from the front of the machine). Latch 189 has two stepped portions 144, 145, the rear end of movable jaw 198
In the open and closed positions, respectively, the carriage body 138
Move from the open position intended to be mounted against the urging of the torsion spring 187 and compression spring 196 between the vertical hole 197 in the movable jaw 198 and the closed position shown by the dotted line in FIG. . The latch 189 has a vertical abutment surface 154, and movement of the carriage 101 toward the hopper 201 causes the shaft 186 to move.
7 is pressed and positioned clockwise to bring the protrusion 215 of FIG. 7 into contact with the latch 189, which rotates the latch clockwise against the force of the torsion spring 187,
The card 2 is fixed by receiving the force of the compression spring 196.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6-8, which is the embodiment shown schematically in FIG. 1, the carriage 101 traverses the guide bar 102 a distance of about 14 inches using a reversible DC positioning motor 103. An encoder is provided for motor positioning control in a known manner, and a cable drum is provided.
104 is attached to the rotating shaft 105 of the motor 103. Cable 106 tightened to cable drum 104 and wound about cable drum 104 for about five turns for positive engagement
Forms an endless loop around pulley 107 to provide accurate positioning of carriage 101 using motor 103. The blade 108 attached to the carriage 101 by the sliding connection 108A forms a portion 109 to which the cable 106 is fixed. The operation of the motor 103 in the counterclockwise direction causes the carriage 101 to move to the topper assembly.
Move left to 500. Similarly, operation of motor 103 in a clockwise direction causes carriage 101 to move to the right toward hopper assembly 200.

To maintain accurate positioning of the carriage 101,
The slide 110 is fixed to the blade 108. Slide 110
The end 111 is provided with an opening 140 (FIGS. 6 and 7) through which the stationary guide 112 passes with minimal friction but with minimal play. Similarly, an opening 141 (FIGS. 6 and 7) axially aligned with an opening at the end 111 of the slide 110 is provided in the blade 108 itself so that the carriage 101 is stably supported, Then, it is accurately moved along the guide bar 102 by the operation of the "X" direction motor 103 in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

The carriage 101 is provided with a downwardly projecting lug 180 having an opening 181 mounted along the blade 108 at the side 108A so that when the carriage 101 moves in the "X" and "Y" directions, And there is communication between the blade 108 and the carriage assembly 101
The carriage 10 in the "X" direction,
Hold 1 The lug 180 also serves as a protrusion for actuating the push card mechanism 204 by movement of the carriage assembly 100, and is separately shown and numbered in FIG.
Operated by the protrusion specified by 133.

In the embodiment of the carriage 101 as shown in FIGS. 13-15, the lug 180 is attached to the blade 10 using rollers 182, 183 rotatably mounted at the bottom of the lug 180.
8 while the carriage 101 is moved in the “X” direction indicated by the arrow in FIG.
Carriage in the "Y" direction (to the plane of the paper shown in Figure 14)
Engage blade 108 so that it slides smoothly throughout the entire travel of 101. The lug 180 is undercut at the location designated by the numeral 184, causing the carriage 101 to move further along the blade 108 toward the hopper 201 without interfering with the length of the undercut portion. Further, the lug 180 is provided with a U-shaped groove 185, which allows the carriage 101 to move with respect to the deflection wire member 165.
Also, the carriage bar 102 is T-shaped and includes a flat horizontal portion 134 and a vertical member 135 (FIG. 15), which is made of a lightweight material and small in size to increase rigidity for accurate movement of the carriage 101 while manufacturing the bar. Provide.

As shown by the arrow in FIG. 1, a slide 113 is provided at one end of the guide bar 102 to allow the carriage 101 to move in the "Y" direction crossing the "X" direction. At each end of the slide 113, lugs 114, 11 with openings
4 ', the stationary guide bar 115 passes in the "Y" direction which crosses the "X" direction. The blade 116 is provided at the other end of the guide bar 102. Blade 116
Are provided with opening flags 136 and 136 'at each end through which the stationary guide bar 137 fixed to the machine frame 11 passes. Two dependent lugs 117, 117 '
At each end of the
8 is stretched, pulley 1 for positive engagement and accurate positioning
Tightened to 26 and wound around pulley 126. Similarly, slave lugs 119, 119 'are provided at each end of blade 116, and cable 120 is stretched for drive engagement. To maintain accurate positioning of the carriage 101, guide bars 136, 137 are mounted on the frame 11, so that the respective blades 116, 113 can be positioned in a sliding but play-free relationship. Although it will be appreciated that mechanisms other than pulleys and cables may be used to achieve "X" and "Y" directional movement without departing from the scope of the invention, the disclosed mechanism is particularly applicable to carriage actuation. The machine is stationary, thus removing unnecessary mass from the carriage assembly
Because it does not add to 100, it is extremely lightweight and conveniently simple in construction.

A reversible DC positioning motor 121 with an encoder for accurate motor positioning is provided with a blade 116 to selectively move the carriage 101 back and forth in the "Y" direction.
Is provided adjacent to. Belt and pulley arrangement 122,
Output shaft 123 of motor 121, slide 113 and blade 116
Between the stationary "Y" axes 124 extending therebetween. Axis 1
24 is mounted on the frame 11 and passes through an opening 141 in the blade 108, thus acting to prevent rotation of the slide 110 to facilitate more accurate movement and position of the carriage 101 in the "X" direction. .

The pulley 125 is axially fixed at a stationary "Y" axis 124 juxtaposed to the cable 120 held by the blade 116, the cable 120 having a positive engagement between the pulley and the cable for accurate positioning by the associated motor. , It is fastened to the pulley 125 and wound one or two turns. Pulley 126 is attached to cable 118 and “Y” axis 12
At 4 it is axially fixed, tightened and rolled to ensure a positive engagement. When viewed from the motor 121 in the direction of the carriage 101 in FIG. 1, the clockwise operation of the "Y" direction motor 121 moves the guide bar 102 together with the carriage 101 forward of the embossing machine 10 in the "Y" direction. The carriage 101 slides along the blade 108, but remains engaged throughout the "Y" movement until the carriage 101 reaches the position shown in FIG. The counterclockwise operation of the motor 121 causes the carriage 101 along with the guide bar 102 to move toward the rear of the machine 10 until the carriage 101 is adjacent to the new card feed hopper assembly 200.

The movement of the carriage 101 in the “Y” direction is performed by the carriage assembly 1
At an appropriate position at the end of 01, for example, a shutter 127 mounted on a slide 113 and a mechanical frame 11 for cooperating with the shutter 127 (20A-20C)
(Fig.) Two spaced photo sensors 12
Monitored by 8,129. Except for one position, referred to as the "X" traverse position shown in Figure 20C, the shutter
The 127 exposes either the photosensors 128 or 129, but not both during movement in the "Y" direction. However, in the "X" direction traversing position shown in FIG. 20C when the neutral zone is reached, both photosensors 128, 129 are exposed such that carriage 101 traverses the guide bar along the entire X direction.

In the start-up mode in which carriage movement is initialized, the “X” axis traversal position is
Thus, the shutter 127 is moved until it reaches the neutral zone shown in FIG. 20C.
The carriage 101 is then moved in the right "X" direction until it abuts an adjustable hard stop (not shown).
Moved along 102. By contacting the stop,
The carriage 101 is retreated to the left by a predetermined number of steps. As an example, one step is 0.0143 inches. The "home" position is thus achieved. Each time the machine is initialized after a power down, it is necessary to perform the above steps to reach the home position. The machine remembers the home position, so that the carriage 101 is moved forward to the feed hopper 201, and the latch 189 is turned clockwise around the axis 186 by contact with a projection 215 mounted in front of the hopper 201. By being moved, the card tightening device 132 is closed.

During each subsequent run of the stamping machine, the machine has a known type of memory and associated circuitry that stores the home position and continuously stores the current position of the carriage 101 with respect to the home position. It is not necessary to reach the home position of the carriage 101 later. Thus, the ejection of a processing or reject card effectively initializes the machine, except that the ejection of a good card is clamped on the left side of the stamping machine 10 via a latch actuator 142 which cams the rollers 194. The device 132 is opened, the movable jaw 198 is pushed clockwise, and the latch 189 is slid down from the step position 144 to the step position 145, and the ejection of the reject card cams the roller 194 and moves as described above. The clamping device 132 is opened on the right side of the machine 10 via a latch actuator 143 which pushes the jaw 198 clockwise.

Another embodiment of a mechanism for actuating the carriage and carriage clamping is shown in FIGS. 24-27. Carriage 10
1 'are two card receiving projections configured similarly to the projections 161 and 162 shown in FIGS. 13-15 for receiving a card.
161 ', 162', between which a card (shown in dotted lines in FIG. 24) is held. The carriage has a clamping device 132 'with a fixed jaw 190' at the bottom and a movable jaw 198 'at the top. The fixed jaw 190 'is a plate that extends slightly beyond the trailing edge 160' of the carriage to cooperate with the portion of the movable jaw 198 'that extends beyond the trailing edge 160' to clamp the card. . The ejector 146 'in the form of a thin plate includes shoulder bushes 147', 148 ', 1
Mounted on top of carriage 101 'for sliding movement at 49'. Slots 150 'can be selectively forward and rearward when ejecting cards into the topper assembly 500, or directly into the stacker groove 600 when no toppering operation is performed, or into the reject stack if the cards are defective. Provided in ejector 146 'to allow operation.

A lever 151 ′ having an L-shaped projection 152 ′ with a camming surface 153 ′ is rotatably mounted on a machine frame 11, for example, on a stacker groove cover 621, about a pivot 154 ′ fixed to the frame 11. is there. The lever 151 'is deflected in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG.
The abutment surface 156 'in the plane of 152' abuts a stationary stop 157 'formed in the frame, which in this case is typically a piece of sheet metal bent down.

A torsion spring 196 'is mounted on the shaft 197', the lever 198 'is also mounted for pivoting movement between the two upstanding flanges 178', 179 'and usually deflects the lever 198' to a closed position. . Free end of lever 198 '
199 'is bent slightly upward and the cumming surface 153'
Form a surface that cooperates with. Similarly, ejector 146 '
Have two slightly bent tabs 110 ', 111' for operation as described below.

In the state shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, the carriage
101 'has already advanced to the new card supply hopper 201 and has open jaws 190', 198 'closed on the card.
Between the cards are housed. The carriage 101 'is moved forward in the "Y" direction toward the stacker groove, and the free end 199' of the lever 198 'is
Press 6 'and move lever 151' counterclockwise to the position indicated by the phantom line in FIG. 24, where movable jaw 198 'is moved forward in the "Y" direction and In the "X" direction for embossing, embossing / indenting and topping.

New Card Hopper Assembly and Magnetic Stripe Encoder A new card feed hopper assembly 200 is located on the right side of the machine near the home position of the carriage 101. Assembly
200 includes a generally rectangular hopper containing a stack of vertically oriented blank cards 202. A vertical opening 203 is provided in front of the hopper 201 to show the stacked cards. Another opening (not shown) is provided at the bottom of the hopper 201, where the projecting member 215 is
The blank card 2 is secured by the aforesaid clamping device 132 by the contact between the latch surface 154 and the protrusion 215, located only thick enough to push only a single blank card from the hopper 201 to the carriage 101. .

A push link mechanism, generally designated by the numeral 204, is operatively associated with the bottom of the hopper 201. The push link mechanism 204 typically includes a push link 205 biased by a spring in the position shown in solid lines in FIG. Due to the movement of the carriage 101 to the pick-up position, and in particular to the movement of the carriage 101 in the "Y" direction to the hopper 201, the protrusion 133 in FIG. 1 or the lug 180 in FIG.
Touch one end of 205 and push the latter back to the position shown in dashed lines in FIG. The other end of the push link 205 is pivotally connected to one end of a lever 206 pivoted around a pivot 207 fixed with respect to the machine frame 11. At the other end of the lever, the push link 205 is pushed back against the spring deflection that rotates the lever 206 counterclockwise,
It is connected to a card pusher or picker 208 in the form of a plate that translates in the “Y” direction. The extension slot 212 in the pusher 208 is used to extend the card pusher 2.
Has pins 210 from 08, resulting in a card pusher 208
Is a sufficient distance (for example, halfway through the hopper 201)
Translates in a straight line in the “Y” direction, and lever 210
It rotates around the fulcrum 207 without interference.

As mentioned above, the protrusions shown schematically and separately in FIG.
133 is the blade 1 in the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 13.
It is actually incorporated in a lug 180 that slides along 08. The protrusion 133 is made of plastic or other material. Spring 209 is connected between pin 210 and pin 210 'to prevent overload of mechanism 204. Although slightly different from the above, an overload spring 209 is provided to compensate for small tolerances as occurs for each blank card. For example, if the card blank is slightly oversized, the yield of spring 209 will position the blank in clamping device 132 without the need for adjustment. Similarly, if the blank is slightly undersized, the card pusher 208 will
Pushed against the deflection of 09, the hopper 201 pushes the card pusher 208 to the desired distance.

The carriage 101 first moves in the “X” direction to the right,
The lug 180 on the carriage 101 (or the protruding blade 133 in FIG. 1) then pushes the mechanism 204 and moves the single card when empty back to the pick-up position on the hopper 201 by movement in the "Y" direction to the rear. Removed from the bottom of the vertical stack 202 in the hopper 201,
The tightening device 132 in the carriage 101 is tightened, and the tightening device 132 is operated by the latch actuator 142 or 143.
When opened by the cammed roller 194 at, and then moved forward in the "Y" direction, the compression spring
Closed by 196 and latch surface 154 is raised by protrusion 215
Hit. The clamping device 132 is opened as described above on the left side of the machine 10 before depositing the front blank card on the topper table 502, or on the right side of the machine when discarding rejected cards.

The magnetic stripe encoder 250 is located to the left of the hopper 210. The encoder 250 is of a conventional construction and frictionally engages the surface of the blank card by a loaded opposing spring with a three-track magnetic read / write head that writes data to the magnetic stripe of the card in a known manner. And a rotating pulse counter 251 arranged by Head 252 also verifies that the data was correctly written to the stripe. Circuits for writing and verifying are also very well known and are not shown for clarity. If the stripe data is missing or defective, the card is rejected before embossing, indenting and topping are performed as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 5, and the carriage is returned to the right side of the machine, Tightening mechanism 132
Is opened, and a new card blank 2 is picked up from the stack 202 in the hopper 201.

More specifically, after the carriage 101 picks up the new card blank 2 in the hopper 201, the carriage 101 moves slightly forward in the “Y” direction,
As a result, the carriage 101 has the counter 251 and the head 252.
With a clear path through the passage defined between them. The stripe of the blank card 2 is moved in the “X” direction by the movement of the carriage 101 along the carriage bar 102. The stripe is written by the head 252 as the surface of the moving card turns the counter 251 by frictional engagement, so that the exact position of the start and end of the write is recorded. Thereafter, the movement in the “X” direction ends, and the forward movement in the “Y” direction starts, passing the head 252. The "X" direction movement to the right then begins and the carriage 101 is moved until it is to the right of the head 252, at which point the carriage 101 is moved backward in the "Y" direction, and then again to the pulse counter 251 and the head. It is moved in the "X" direction through the passage between 252. If the data in the stripe is not verified, the card is rejected by moving it forward in the "Y" direction and right in the "X" direction and ejected to the reject stack. Alternatively, the card is cycled through the path again for a second attempt at verification, and the card is moved to a reject stack upon a failure.

Interventor and Stamping Machine Assembly One embodiment of the interventional device 300 and stamping machine assembly 400 is shown schematically in FIG. Interventor 300 may generate sufficient noise, but excessive noise, to activate and deactivate rams 422, 423 associated with female and male press wheels 401, 402 by toggle linkages 403, 404, respectively. Or with sufficient force (eg, 300 lbs.) To provide an acceptable embossing character in a minimum amount of time without the need for an excessive embossing motor. It is provided.

The embossing motor 405 is connected to the flywheel 406 in a known manner by an O-ring belt 407 and a pulley 408 fixed on a shaft 424 journaled in the machine frame 11. The flywheel 406 is continuously rotated by the embossing motor 405, and is sized to provide the kinetic energy used to supplement the torque of the motor 405, and the ram associated with the female and male plates 401, 402. Drive the toggle linkages 403, 404 by rapid actuation of the intervening device assembly 300, as described below, to stamp the placed card by selectively moving the card between 422, 423. I do. Flywheel 406 thus eliminates the need for a large stamping motor with high torque, thereby making the stamping machine compact and lightweight.

Various characters are printed on the embossing wheels 401 and 402.
The rotation of the reversible DC positioning motor 0409 with the encoder presents it on the card surface in a known manner. The motor 409 is connected to the wheels 401 and 402 by a belt 410. The wheels 401, 402 rotate together about their respective axes 411, 412, and the motor 409 and the male and female plates 40
It has a pulley section 416 with a belt 410 wound around it to define a 10: 1 ratio between 1,402, so that accurate but rapid movement of the wheel is achieved. The wheels 401, 402 are also provided with a portion that indents the card, i.e., indents characters slightly below the surface of the card in a known manner. When indentation is performed, an indent ribbon 413 is provided such that the ribbon material is pushed into the indent portion to make the characters more visible.

Toggle links 403, 404 are connected at a driven end by a common pivot 414 to an actuator lever 425 that rotates about a journaled fixed pivot 419 in the machine frame 11. At each working end, link 40
3 and 404 are connected to relatively heavy and rigid actuator levers 415 and 416, respectively, at pivot points 417 and 418,
Turned at 1,412. The other ends of the levers 413, 414 are connected to the respective upper and lower rams 422, 423 to perform the necessary character pressing after the wheels 401, 402 are rotated to the appropriate positions by the motor 409. .

The embosser linkage thus described is more particularly shown in FIG. 9 and in rams 422, 423
It consists of an upper and lower four-bar linkage sized to provide a substantial amount of force, eg, 300 lbs. In addition, a dwell is performed, and the actuator lever 415
The female ram 422 is brought to the final position before the female ram is brought to the final stamping position. A spring (not shown) is associated with link 404 or link 425 and, upon completion of the embossing stroke, deflects the coupling mechanism to the solid line position shown in FIG.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1, 9 and 10A-C, the intervening device assembly 300 disposed between the embossing motor 405 and the embosser coupling mechanism described above includes a pulse counter. Driven by a stamping motor 405 through a crank 301 attached to the end of a shaft 302 connected to a driven flywheel 406 through a sensor disk 303 with 327. As mentioned above, the flywheel that keeps rotating to provide a small motor that makes the machine lightweight and compact
406 supplements torque from the embossing motor 405 which is insufficient in the embosser assembly 400 due to peak load. In addition, because the torque load is not constant in the stamping assembly 400, the flywheel 406 seeks to make the torque load more uniform and smooth the operation of the stamping mechanism.

The crank 301 also rotates continuously due to the continuous rotation of the motor 405 and provides a drive mechanism for the intervening device 300 described below having a link 304 between the actuator lever 425 and the crank 301. The link 304 is pivoted at one end 418 of an actuator lever 425 that abuts a stop 426 when the stamper linkage is inactive. The link 304 has a magnetic coil main body 305 attached thereto, and a magnetically permeable core 306 is attached to the center of the main body 305.

Pin 307 is slidably mounted for linear movement inside link 304. The portion of the pin 307 extending outside the link 304 has a reduced end secured by an interference fit or the like in an opening 309 provided in the wall of the ring 310,
There is another ring 325 inside the link 310 that rings the eccentric movement of the crank through the O-ring belt 407 and the pulley 408.
A bearing for transmitting to 310 is provided. The ring 310 is indicated by the arrow 31 in FIG. 9 due to the crank arrangement created by the ring 310 and the offset center 312, 313 of the shaft 302, respectively.
It has a translational motion component in the anteroposterior direction indicated by 1. Ring 310 also rotates around ring axis 418
Has another operating component that produces a slight rocking movement of

The pin 307 is held in a closely fitting recess 315 (eg, a .005 inch gap) and is provided with an opening 309 using a lock gate 314 coupled to the link 304 through an actuation mechanism.
Selectively locked within, the actuating mechanism is substantially L-shaped, such as a piano wire with two arms to form a U-shape located in a slot 317 provided axially along link 304.
Includes a shaped spring wire 316. The free end 318 of the wire 316
Connected to lock gate 314. The other end 326 of the short leg of the wire 316 is connected to the armature plate 319, and the link 30
The spring 320 connected between the armature plate 319 held in the body of FIG. 4 and the fixing pin 321 normally drives the body 304 toward the end. The spring 320 normally causes the armature plate 319 to pivot counterclockwise about the pivot point 326, as shown in FIG. The holding member 322 moves the lock gate 314 to the concave portion 315 by the operation of the magnetic coil 305 by receiving an appropriate signal.
Fixed to the outside of the link 304 by a screw 323 or link to prevent it from being removed from. Actuation of the magnetic coil core 306 by a signal “loads” the wire 316 by pivoting the armature plate 319 clockwise against the deflection of the spring 320 and pressing it against the outer surface of the pin 307. Then, when the recess 315 aligns with the lock gate 314 due to the relative movement between the pin 307 and the link 304, the lock gate 314 falls quickly into the recess 315 and the toggle link of the stamping machine through the actuator link 425. A rigid connection is provided to move the pin 307 and link 304 as a piece to actuate 403,404. In other words, wire 316
The bend stores potential energy that results in rapid rotation of wire 316 when embossing is performed. Conversely, when the embossing is stopped, the magnetic coil core 306 is deactivated, and the spring 320 causes the armature plate 319 to pivot counterclockwise, thereby quickly moving the lock gate 314 out of the recess.
Pull out without passing through the holding member 322. At this point, the pin 307 has moved with respect to the link 304, preventing movement of the working link 425 since there is no rigid connection between the relative movable pin 307 and the link 304.

The core 306 is actuated when desired, e.g., at least at least one revolution of the intervening crank 301 to transmit torque to the toggle links 403, 404 to effect ram action on the embosser wheels 401, 402. 316 is recess 31
5 is aligned with lock gate 314 and deflected toward pin 307 before quickly moving lock gate 314 into recess 315 and re-establishing a drive connection between pin 307 and link 304. Flywheel 406 can emboss up to five characters before intervening device 300 is intermittently separated from torque coupling mechanisms 403, 404 to provide sufficient kinetic energy in the form of torque.

Interventor sensor disk 303 and sensor 327 are positioned on shaft 302 to provide a signal to controller 3 (FIG. 21) so that coil 305 is triggered in proper relation to crank 312.

As described above, the toggle links 403 and 404 of the embossing machine 400 are used.
Is connected at a pivot 414 to one end of an actuator lever 425 of the intervening device 300. The actuator lever 425 is pivoted at a midpoint around a pivot pin 419 fixed to the machine frame 11. The end of the connection mechanism 403 is connected to the female actuator lever 415 on the pivot 420, while the connection mechanism 404 is connected to the male actuator lever 416 on the pivot 421. The above coupling mechanism keeps the female press wheel ram 422 stationary or dwell during the rest of the upward motion of the male press wheel ram 423. Analyzing, the upper four-bar linkage is constituted by the actuator lever 425, and the imaginary line is
The stationary pivot 41 that forms the base, lever 415 and link 403
7, 419, and the lower four-bar coupling mechanism is constituted by the actuator lever 425 and the link 404, and the imaginary line connects the base and the stationary pivot 418, 419 constituting the lever 416. Intervention device 300 and stamping machine 400 via magnetic coil 305
The connection and disconnection between are continued until all embossed and intended characters have been formed. In this regard, the discussion of indentation behavior is obviated. This is because the characters are not raised on the card, are slightly recessed below the card surface, and are similar to embossing operations, except that they are accentuated by indentation ribbons.

As described above, if a defect occurs in the embossing / indenting operation, the card is returned to the reject stack as shown by the flowchart in FIG. 5, and the new card is encoded, embossed and described below. Searched for topper behavior. However, if the card is determined to be defect-free after embossing and indenting, it is moved to the topper assembly 500 by the carriage 101, where the foil is raised by the embossing operation. Attached by heat.

In an alternative embodiment of the interposer and stamper assembly shown in FIGS. 22 and 23, the ribbon 3904 and pin 307 of FIGS. 9 and 10 are replaced with a real link 328. However, the remaining coupling mechanism is the same. A magnetic coil 329 is mounted on lever 415. An armature 330 is mounted to pivot about a pivot 331. Stop 332, lever 415
And prevents counter-clockwise movement of the armature 330 beyond substantially the vertical position shown in FIG. Interventor slide 333 is pivoted at pivot 334 at the bottom of armature 330. The slide 33 is arranged horizontally and is slidable in a guide block 335 held at the end of the lever 415 by conventional fastening means. The operation of the magnetic coil 329 that rotates the armature 330 clockwise around the pivot 331 causes the slide 333 to move
415 is pushed forward a small distance beyond the ram 422 held between it and the ram 422 by the presence of the slide 333 in sufficient space 336 to prevent contact between the lever 415 and the ram 422. Communicated. Projection 337 slides 333
And the lever 415 and the ram 422
It is just sized to slide well in the space 336 between.

A similar interventional arrangement is used in connection with the male wheel 402, but the protrusion at the end of the interventional slide causes the lever 416 associated with the male ram 423 to travel a greater distance than the end of the lever 415. Due to the fact that the protrusion
The size is different from 336. This lower male wheel arrangement is not shown in FIG. 22 because it is identical in all other respects to the structure shown in that figure with respect to the upper female wheel arrangement. In addition, the rams 422, 423
After being moved to the open position input by the spring 338, it is deflected from the stamping position. Ram 42 in machine frame 11
An adjustable stop 339 on the bracket 340 that securely holds the 2,423 provides approximately 0.01 gram between each ram and the associated slide 353.
It is provided to adjust the 0 inch gap. A wedge 341 is inserted between the guide block and the respective lever 415, 416 to adjust a gap of about 0.010 inches between the ram and the letter form.

Topper Assembly 500 Topper assembly 500 includes a foil supply spool 501 that applies topping or hot stamping foil to the top of the embossed letter with about 50 lbs. Force and is rotatably mounted in a rewind assembly 504. I do. In FIG. 1, the rewind assembly 504 is pivotally mounted about an axis 507. Under normal conditions, i.e., when the foil is not advanced or the card is not topped, the rewind assembly is driven by the weight of the spool whose center of gravity is behind the shaft 507 or by the stopping spring 505.
With the help of, it turns in the rearward or counterclockwise direction when viewed from the left side in FIG. Limit stops 50 in frames
6 prevents the rewind assembly 504 from pivoting backward beyond the amount needed to remove the foil described below.

The leading edge of spool 501 is passed around heated platen 508 and idler rollers 509, 510 and wound on spool 511 after a suitable amount of foil has been used.
Platen 508 is heated by electric coil 512 and is movable back and forth relative to the foil, and the card
Output shaft 51 with motor 513 and toothed pulley 515 fixed
4 and a toothed belt 516 meshing with pulley teeth about a pulley 515 and a large toothed pulley 517 mounted on an eccentric crank mechanism 518 to operate a ram 519 through a link 529. Placed on
This mechanism moves the platen 508 towards the topper table 502 which has the foil and the embossed card, performs a topper action, and transfers the foil to the top of the embossed characters only.

As shown in FIG. 12, the large toothed pulley 517 has one end of the link 520 eccentrically mounted to be pivotable.
The other end of link 520 is pivotally connected to crank arm 521, which is connected to take-up spool 511 via two one-way Torrington clutches to act as a wheel feed ratchet mechanism, described below. Axis 5 for
Fixed to 22. The used foil is picked up after the motor 513 is actuated, causing the ram 519 to move downward and pressing the hot plate 508 against the foil at the top of the embossed letter, and the motor 513 moves the ram 519 upwards. Actuated to move to the midpoint in. Ram 519
During the movement from the bottom position of the ram 519 to the mid-stroke position of the ram 519 in the upward direction, the rewind assembly 504
Pivoting back and / or with the aid of stripping spring 505 to pull the used foil web in the topped card away from the card and to allow winding of the foil at take-up spool 511. Furthermore, due to the position of the link 520 on the pulley 517, a very small amount of winding movement of the foil occurs in the movement between the mid-stroke position and the bottom position and vice versa. However, further movement of the ram 519 above the midpoint position results in much more foil winding on the spool 511 due to the arrangement of the link 520 on the pulley 517 and the link 520 on the crank arm 521. .

The used wheel 511 is passed around an axis 525 connected to a pulse wheel 526 associated with a counter 527 so that the frictional engagement between the wheel and the axis causes the wheel to
To allow detection of the amount to be wound up. Axis 507
The rewind assembly 504, which is pivoted about, exerts a substantially constant tension on the foil web.

Before the first topper operation at machine startup where the card is not in the topper table 502, the carriage 101
It moves forward in the "Y" axis and aligns with the ejector slide 503 as shown in FIG. The carriage is then moved forward in the "Y" direction, and the ejector pins 154 on the carriage 101 move the ejector slide 503 forward. This travel distance is typically about 2 inches in the "Y" direction. Ejector slide 503 is typically deflected to the rear of the machine by a spring (not shown) and has an ejector 5 having a surface 531 disposed longitudinally along the top surface of topper table 502.
28 (FIG. 2), when the carriage 101 is moved forward in the "Y" direction, it moves in a direction parallel to the bar 503. The surface 531 is provided with protrusions 532, 533 extending beyond each side of the card so that the card is held against the topper table 502 when the used foil web is peeled from the card. You.

The carriage 101 then moves to the left in the “X” direction and moves forward in the “Y” direction relative to the actuator 142 to expose the card, and then moves again in the “Y” direction to The exposed cards still in case carriage 101 are aligned with topper assembly 500 and are placed on topper table 502. The ram 519 is then moved down to clamp the card with about 10 lbs. Of force as the carriage 101 is moved to the new card supply hopper 201 which picks up the new card to repeat the process. Meanwhile, the cards stacked on the topper table 502 are topped with foil from the spool 501, and removed by the ejector 528 when the carriage 101 returns with the new card, and the ram 519 exposes the topped card to use. Raised to mid-point height to remove foil.

As mentioned above, the foil web adhering to the card after the topper operation is removed by the movement of the rewind assembly 504 by the upward movement of the ram 519, whereby the foil web is initially moved to approximately the midpoint of the movement of the ram 519. Slowly,
It is then wound up more quickly on the take-up spool. The embossing width W of the next card placed on the topper table 502 (FIG. 2), like the embossing width W of the previous card already topped, is stored in memory, and the reversible DC motor 513 is turned on. A control signal to oscillate is provided so that the ram 519 is partially moved up and down, but does not contact the card at the topper table 502 or the ram 519 does not reach the top of the stroke. The vibration of the motor 413
And vibrate the crank arm 521. However, due to the presence of the two one-way clutches 523, 524, a ratcheting movement takes place, in which case the wheel moves the spool 51 in the direction of oscillation.
One can be wound up, but there is no foil winding up in the other direction.

A pulse wheel 526 on axis 525 frictionally engaging the foil web rotates as the foil is wound and signals the motor through sensor 527 when the proper amount of used foil has been advanced for the next topper operation. give. Thus, the motor 513 is activated to send the ram 519 to the new wheel and new card in the topper table 520. In other words, the foil feed is adjusted to a different embossing width W for each card, counting the pulses to control the topper motor 513, and minimizing the amount of foil used in the topper operation. Tracked by

A ram sensor 529 is also provided to detect the end position of the ram 519 when vibrated by the crank mechanism 518 between the top and bottom end positions of the stroke. The signal from the sensor 529, along with the oscillating movement of the link to advance the foil, is sent to the machine controller to ensure that the lowering and raising of the ram 519 is synchronized with the presence and removal of the card in the topper table 52. Supplied, and consequently, when desired, ram 519 is not allowed to fully travel on topper table 502.

Carriage 10 shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 24 and 25
According to 1 ', the card is inserted into the topper table 502 in the manner shown in FIG. Actuator 142 'is attached to the machine cover in the area of the stacker and has a cam surface 157' similar in construction to the camming surface 153 'shown in FIG. 25 and described above. Carriage 101 'is in the "Y" direction to the right of topper assembly 500 of actuator 142'.
To reach. The carriage 101 'is then moved rearward in the "Y" direction (to the left in FIG. 26), whereby the free end 199' of the movable jaw 198 'is deflected by the torsion spring 196' to release the jaw. Is pressed clockwise against. In the position shown in FIG. 26, the jaws are fully open and held open by the camming surface 157 '(i.e., no cam drop), and the card is on the topper table 502, where the ram 519 is , Exerting pressure on the card and lowered to clamp the card against the platform. As a result, the carriage 101 'is moved forward (to the right), and the movable jaw 198' is moved to the closed position by the spring 19 '.
Slowly turns counterclockwise due to 6 'deflection. The carriage is equipped with the new card supply hopper 20 shown in FIG.
The alignment at 1 is moved in the "X" direction but to the right of the cumming surface 153 ', and then moved backward in the "Y" direction (to the left in FIG. 25) to pick up the card and clamp between the jaws. You.

Stacker Assembly According to one embodiment of the invention, the first of the guide wires 601, 602
And a second pair (FIGS. 2, 17 and 18) are disposed on the left side of the machine 10 adjacent to the front of the topper table 502. The first pair 602 has a small distance (at least card width) shallow sloped portion 607 extending from the topper table 502 through a steep transition to a near vertical portion 608. The other pair of guidewires 602 is arcuate (FIG. 17) and traverses the first pair of guidewires 601. Plate 609 is feed line 61
The card that extends along one side of the first pair of guidewires 601 to present a zero and thus ejects the card from the topper table 502 after being ejected from the topper mechanism 500
Is guided at the left end of the machine by a draw line 610 for the first swing of the card to "fall" or penetrate from the card.

As shown in FIG. 18, a draw block 611 is provided at the bottom of the guide wire pair 602 so that when the descending card is pivoted, the edges of the card are pulled as shown in FIG. It hits block 611 and penetrates stacker groove 606.

The feeder 605 pushes the card that has entered the groove 606 by the operation of the coupling mechanism 604. Movement of the carriage assembly 100 to the left to place the card on the topper table 502 is pivotally connected at one end to the plate 605 and pivot point 613 via link 630 and pivots to the machine frame 11 at pivot point 614. The coupling mechanism 604 including the dog dog shaped link 612 is operated. The other end of the link 612 has a protruding button 615. The operating member 616 is moved by the operation of the carriage assembly 100 to the left and right as the carriage 101 moves to place the card 2 on the topper table 502. The operating mechanism 616 is
Touch the button 615 and rotate the link 612 counterclockwise to the dotted position shown in FIG.
The newly dropped card passes through a spring clip retainer (not shown) and is pushed to the right, and the card is moved to the left by the spring deflector 631.
The spring deflection plate 631 prevents more cards from being added to the stack and guides new cards
1, move right to make room for fall along 602 into groove 606.

As described above, the right side of the stacker assembly 600 also includes a magazine 617 for rejected cards returned after an unsatisfactory magnetic stripe encoding operation or an unsatisfactory embossing / indenting operation. When the machine requires rejection of the card, the carriage is moved back to the right along the "X" axis and then moved forward in the "Y" direction, where the clamping device 132 contacts the actuator 143 Release of the card from the clamping device 132, and further movement in the "Y" direction, contact the upright projection and the carriage
The wire 165 is moved back relative to 101, the card is pushed out of the carriage, and the ramp 603 in the stacker assembly 600 slides down.

In another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 3, 4A and 4B, an angle stacker assembly 620 is used in place of the horizontal stacker of FIG. The assembly includes a cover member 621 that defines a card slot 622. Instead of a guide wire that forces the card into the stacker, this embodiment uses a straight drop of the card from the topper table 502 into the groove 622. Upon ejection from the topper table 502, the topped card slides down the plate 623 through a slot in the cover 621 and is normally deflected by the torsion spring 625 to the position shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Will be placed on the With the movement of the carriage assembly 101 in the "X" direction to load the new card onto the topper table 502, the accessories 626 in the carriage assembly 101 cause the L of the slidable connection link 627 connected with the stacker assembly 620 to move. It comes into contact with the shape end 628. The other end 629 of the link 627 is pivotally connected to one end of the arm 630. The other end of the arm 630 is connected to the loader 624. The arm 630 and the loader 624 are pivoted about a shaft 628 fixed to the top and bottom of the stacker groove 622 by a torsion spring 625 disposed around the shaft 628. One arm 632 of torsion spring 625 abuts the pivoted connection between link 627 and arm 630, while the other end 633 of the torsion spring engages the fixed frame of the stacker assembly.

When the carriage 101 is moved to the left in FIG. 4B,
The accessory 626 in the carriage assembly 101 includes a link 627.
And move the latter to the left. This move
The arm 630 is pivoted counterclockwise about the axis 628 while compressing the torsion spring arms 632, 633 together. The pivoting of the arm 630 causes the attached loader 624 to pivot to the right, so that the loaded cards pass through the upper and lower spring retainers 634, 635, respectively, to deflect the stack retaining plate. Moved in opposition, the stack holding plate 636 is attached to the machine frame 11 around the pulley 640 at one end of the plate 636 to maintain the card and stack upright conditions with the spring retainers 634, 635. It is deflected to the left by the nigator spring 637.

With the embodiment of the carriage 101 'shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, a simple mechanism of the type shown in FIG. 27 is used to place defective or non-receiving cards in the reject stack in the stacker groove. . In particular, the opening 650 in the guide plate 651 is provided so that the carriage assembly 1 in the “Y” direction is forward.
00 'allows the blade 108' to move, engages the free end 199 'of the movable jaw 198' under the camming surface 670 of the member 61 fixed to the machine frame cover, and
Release 2 '.

Reject stack 652 is aligned with hopper 201 and is provided at the end of guide plate 651. Another sign 653
However, it is attached to the hopper 201 to cooperate with the guide plate 651. The opening 650 between the guide plates 651 and 653 allows the carriage blade 108 to move to the right in FIG. 27 (ie, forward in the “Y” direction). Reject stack groove 655 guide
The reject card, which is attached at the end of 651 and slides down guide plates 653, 651, falls smoothly into grooves 655 and stacks 652 arranged at an angle to the horizontal plane.

A gravity operated pawl 656 is pivotally mounted in front of the machine frame 11 adjacent to the camming surface and in alignment with the ejectors 110 ', 111'. When the carriage 101 'is returned to the area of the reject stack 655, the pawl 656
Engage one of the tabs to hold ejector 146 'so that 1' continues to move to the right. Shoulder bush 147 ', 14
Ejector 146 'using 8' and 149 'and carriage 101'
The relative movement between pushes the defective card from the carriage 101 'to the guide plate 653, where gravity causes the card to slide smoothly into the reject stack 652. The dotted line designated by reference numeral 657 indicates the start and end positions of the ejector tab when the carriage is at the frontmost "Y" direction position.

When the topper assembly 500 is not used, a similar ejection mechanism can be used with the stacker embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 17-19 or the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3, 4A and 4B. Used on the left side of the stacker groove, where the card penetrates or slides into the stacker groove. In this case, the pawl 656 is on the left side of the lever 198, and
Acts on 110 '.

Machine Control The actual control of the machine is achieved by a conventional microprocessor DC motor servo positioning system of the type shown in FIG. 21 and operates in two modes to provide fast and accurate positioning of the above components. . Each of the DC positioning motors 103, 121 and 409 is controlled by the microprocessor controller 3 which determines the optimum speed profile for each motor movement and transmits the appropriate commands to the D / A converter and error amplifier 21 as described above. Optical encoder 20. Converter / amplifier
21 generates a voltage control signal to drive a switch mode driver 22 that supplies voltage to an associated motor.
The optical encoder 20 at each DC positioning motor axis is D /
Provide the tach voltage feedback and feedback position signal for the A converter 21 and the signal processed by the tach converter 23 to generate the distance / direction feedback signal for the microprocessor controller 3.

This type of system operates in two modes and achieves the high speed and accuracy required for motor positioning in a stamping machine. Initially, the system operates in a speed control mode. The movement is performed by the microprocessor controller 3 by a speed request word (many bits).
Is applied to the D / A converter 21 and typically begins when a maximum speed is required. At this moment, the motor speed is zero, so there is no tach feedback.
Thus, the motor operates in open loop mode, where the high current peak value accelerates the motor quickly to ensure a fast start. However, when the motor accelerates, the octopus voltage rises, and the system
It operates in a closed loop speed mode and rapidly moves forward along a “X” or “Y” direction to a target position, eg, hopper 201, stamper 400 or topper 500. The controller 3, which monitors the signal from each optical encoder 20, gradually reduces the speed request word as the target position approaches.
Each time the speed request is reduced, the motor is braked by the speed control loop. Finally, when the speed code is zero and the target is very close, the controller 3 commands the system to switch to position mode, in which case the motor stops quickly at the desired position and returns electronically. Is held.

The optical encoder 20 comprises a rotating slotted disk and a partially slotted fixed disk of known construction. The light source and the sensor are mounted such that the encoder produces two quasi-sinusoidal signals with a phase difference. The frequency of these signals indicates the speed of rotation, and the relative phase difference indicates the direction of rotation. The third signal, consisting of one pulse per revolution, is used to find the absolute position at motor initialization.

Motors 103, 121, 40 to achieve the desired output
For the sequential operation of the machine with the above servo positioning of 9 and 513, it is necessary to provide sensors of conventional construction at some points in the machine. For example, "Y" direction limit sensors 12, 13 are located at the desired end of movement of the carriage 1010 from front to back of the machine. A card presenting sensor 14 is disposed between the hopper 201 and the carriage assembly 101 to ensure that cards are not pushed from the hopper 201 onto the carriage or that the machine does not cycle. The embossing motor sensor 15 is disposed close to one of the wheel operating levers 415, 416 to detect the ram operation. Similarly, the wheel position sensor 16
Located on one of the embossing machine wheels 401, 402, it ensures that the wheel will rotate to the desired position to present the proper characters for the embossing operation. The ram position sensor 17 is used in the topper assembly 500 and detects the positions of the ram and the ram link in order to perform the topper operation and the vibration operation of the crank 521 for winding the foil. Finally, the intervening sensor disk 303 and sensor 326 described above provide a position reference for actuation of the intervener 300 through a stamping operation.

In the method described with reference to FIG. 21, the controller 3 controls the “X” direction motor 103, the “Y” direction motor 12
1. Selectively control the operations of the embossing wheel positioning motor 409 and the topping motor 502. The memory of the controller 3 stores the home position of the carriage 101 after the initialization of the machine 10 and the current position of the "X" and "Y" direction motors 103, 121 with respect to the home position established by the initialization or startup of the machine 10. During the continuous operation of the machine, i.e., without power interruption,
21 remembers the current position with respect to the home position. The system also stores the number and type of characters that are imprinted on the individual card along with the required spacing for each card.

During the card processing operation cycle schematically shown in FIG. 5, the carriage 101 moves the new card supply hopper 201 backward by initialization and when the carriage is advanced toward the hopper 201, The protruding blank card 2 pressed partially forward from the bottom of the hopper by the protruding blade 133 acting on 204 is picked up. The carriage 101 picks up the cards advanced from the stack 202 and the blank cards are clamped by the clamping device 132 at the end of the carriage movement to the hopper 201.

The carriage then moves forward in the "Y" direction to completely retrieve the card blank from hopper 201. Photosensor 14 determines whether the card is on the carriage. If no card is detected, the controller 3 operates the carriage 101 forward in the "Y" direction, opening the clamping device 132 and then operating backwards toward the topper 201, pushing out the card and picking up a new card. I do. If card is detected by photo sensor 14, "X" direction motor
103 is actuated to move the carriage 101 to the left and encodes the data in the magnetic stripe with the head 252. Motor 121 is actuated to move carriage 101 forward along the "Y" direction and passes head 252, and motor 103 is moved to move carriage 101 to the right of head 252 in the "X" direction. Activated, the motor 121 is activated to move the carriage 101 backward in the "Y" direction, positioning the blank card 2 in alignment with the read head 252, and the motor 103
Actuated to move carriage 101 through head 252 in the "X" direction. Verify the information in the stripe. If the information is not verified in the first read pass, the verification steps are repeated in the manner described above. However, after a second verification pass without proper verification, motor 121 is actuated to move carriage 101 forward in the "Y" direction, passes head 252, and motor 103 is moved in the "X" direction. At the right side to move the carriage 101 to a position in front of the reject stack 603 in the stacker groove 600 (FIG. 2) or groove 620 (FIG. 3).

If the coded blank card 2 is verified or received after the first and second passes, the motor 103 moves the carriage 101 to the left into the stamping assembly 400, where the card is stamped. And, where appropriate, indented by the required number of lines and characters. If the stamping or indenting action is not deemed acceptable by verification, motor 121 is actuated by controller 3 to move carriage 101 in the forward "Y" direction, and motor 121 causes carriage 101 to move. It is operated to move to the position in front of the right reject chute 603 in the “X” direction. After acceptable embossing,
The motor 121 is operated by the controller 3 which detects the last character impressed through the wheel position sensor 16 and the ram operation sensor 15, and moves the carriage 101 having the embossed blank card 2 forward in the "Y" direction. Move and align with card ejector latch 503 on topper assembly 500. Then motor 103
Is actuated to move the carriage 101 to the left in the “X” direction, locking the ejector latch 503 with a pin 154 on the carriage roller 150 and then the motor 121 moves the carriage 101 forward in the “Y” direction. To pull the ejector latch forward, and pass the previously topped card by dropping it from the ejector latch forward to the ready position in the stacker groove. After this passing operation is performed, the motor 103 is actuated to move the carriage 101 to the left in the "X" direction to align with the topper table 502, and at the same time (as permitted by the jog in the latch 503). , Card stacker connection mechanism 604 (19th
The front card dropped from the topper table as shown in FIG. 7 passes through the spring retainer and is pushed into the stacker groove 606 by using the linearly movable stacker plate 605. The motor 121 is then actuated to move the carriage 101 forward, using the actuator 142 to open the clamping device 132, and then reversed to move the carriage 101 adjacent the topper table, thereby causing the ram 519 to move. Card topper stand 5
Lowered to tighten at 02. Motor 103
Is operated to slightly move the carriage assembly 100 to the left in the “X” direction, and uses the stacker plate 605 linearly pushed by the carriage operating mechanism 604 to remove the card just dropped from the topper table. Stacker groove
The card stacker connection mechanism 604 (No. 19
) To move the completed card past the spring retainer.

The motor 121 is operated to move the carriage 101 forward of the machine 10 in the "Y" direction, the ram 519 is tightened, and the topper table 502 on which the topper action is performed.
, The card pressed against the carriage 101 is loosely held.

When the carriage 101 has moved sufficiently forward in the “Y” direction and has passed all the mechanical components, the motor 103
The carriage 101 is operated to move the carriage 101 rightward in front of the new card supply hopper 201 in the "X" direction for picking up the next card and repeating the above cycle.

Although several embodiments according to the present invention have been shown and described, some details have not been described for clarity.
It is further understood that other changes and modifications are possible without departing from the inventive concept. For example,
An empty card sensor is used to prevent the card from overflowing when the stacker groove or reject groove is full. For this reason, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown and / or described, but to include all changes and modifications encompassed within the scope of the appended claims.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Katsukusei, Edward 10960, New York, United States United States 510 (72) Inventor Cal, Leo, New Jersey, United States 07006 West Coldwell Westbar Avenue 58 ( 72) Inventor Ashley, Keith New Jersey, USA 07066 Clark Lake Avenue, New York 1009 (72) Inventor Pankin, Eiger New Jersey, USA 07036 Linden Rosewood Terrace 606 (72) Inventor Ross, Philippe 07057 Warrington, New Jersey, United States Mount Seeder Avenue 41 (56) References JP-A-53-59534 (JP, A) JP-A-62-231775 (JP, A) JP-A-56-92090 (JP, A) JP-A-57-131582 (JP, A) , A) Special table Sho 61-500115 (JP, A) ( 58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41F 19/02 B41J 3/38 B41J 13/00-13/32 B42D 15/10 B42D 15/02 B65H 29/00-29/10 B65H 5 / 08-5/14

Claims (20)

(57) [Claims] 1. A means mounted on a carriage for clamping a card to a carriage, and means for moving the carriage along a first axis between a first side and a second side of the machine. A first stationary motor operatively coupled to the means for moving the carriage along the first axis for providing power, and along a second axis transverse to the first axis. Means for moving the carriage, and a second stationary motor operatively coupled to the means for moving the carriage along the second axis for providing power, and a second stationary motor. Means for opening and closing the fastening means in response to movement of the carriage along the axis, the means for opening and closing contacting the means for fastening during movement along the second axis. And tighten At least one stationary actuator for opening the step and another stationary actuator for contacting said fastening means and closing said fastening means during movement along a second axis. Carriage of the card type pressing machine. 2. The means for moving the carriage along a first axis comprises moving the carriage along the first axis over all movements along the first and second axes. 2. The carriage of claim 1 further comprising a blade connection slidably connecting the means for moving the carriage along a second axis with the means for moving the carriage along a second axis. 3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said fastening means includes a fixed jaw, a movable jaw pivotally connected to the fixed jaw, and means for deflecting the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw.
Carriage of the card type press machine. 4. The card pusher of claim 2 wherein the fastening means includes a fixed jaw, a movable jaw pivotally connected to the fixed jaw, and means for deflecting the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw. Attached carriage. 5. All the power for opening and closing the fastening means is supplied from a second stationary motor,
The carriage of claim 1 wherein the carriage and the means for tightening are moved along a second axis and the means for tightening contact the at least one stationary actuator and the other actuator. 6. All power for opening and closing the fastening means is supplied from a second stationary motor,
4. The carriage of claim 2 wherein the carriage and the means for tightening are moved along a second axis and the means for tightening contact the at least one stationary actuator and the other actuator. 7. All the power for opening and closing the fastening means is supplied from a second stationary motor,
4. The carriage of claim 3 wherein the carriage and the means for tightening are moved along a second axis and the means for tightening contact the at least one stationary actuator and the other actuator. 8. All the power for opening and closing the fastening means is supplied from a second stationary motor,
5. The carriage of claim 4 wherein the carriage and the means for tightening are moved along a second axis and the means for tightening contact the at least one stationary actuator and the other actuator. 9. The carriage and the means for clamping have first and second ends of a track along a first axis, wherein the at least one stationary actuator is at a first end of the track. The carriage of the card press of claim 1 having a first stationary actuator disposed, and another actuator disposed at a second end of the track. 10. The card pusher carriage of claim 9 wherein another actuator has a second stationary actuator disposed at a second end of the track. 11. The carriage and the means for tightening comprise a first
First and second ends of a trajectory along an axis of the trajectory, wherein the at least one stationary actuator comprises a first stationary actuator disposed at a first end of the trajectory. 3. The carriage of the card press of claim 2 wherein another actuator is located at the second end of the track. 12. The actuator as claimed in claim 12, wherein the other actuator has a second stationary actuator disposed at a second end of the track.
Carriage of 11 card press machines. 13. The carriage and the fastening means may include a first
First and second ends of a trajectory along an axis of the at least one stationary actuator comprises a first stationary actuator disposed at a first end of the trajectory. 4. The carriage of the card press of claim 3 wherein the other actuator is located at the second end of the track. 14. The actuator as claimed in claim 14, wherein the other actuator has a second stationary actuator located at the second end of the track.
Carriage of 13 card press machines. 15. The carriage and the means for tightening comprise a first
First and second ends of a trajectory along an axis of the trajectory, wherein the at least one stationary actuator comprises a first stationary actuator disposed at a first end of the trajectory. 6. The carriage of claim 5 wherein another actuator is located at a second end of the track. 16. The actuator as claimed in claim 16, wherein the second actuator has a second stationary actuator disposed at a second end of the track.
Carriage of 15 card press machines. 17. The method according to claim 17, wherein the carriage and the fastening means include a first
First and second ends of a trajectory along an axis of the trajectory, wherein the at least one stationary actuator comprises a first stationary actuator disposed at a first end of the trajectory. 7. The carriage of the card press of claim 6, wherein another actuator is located at the second end of the track. 18. The actuator as claimed in claim 18, wherein the second actuator has a second stationary actuator disposed at a second end of the track.
Carriage of 17 card press machines. 19. The carriage and the means for tightening may include a first
First and second ends of a trajectory along an axis of the trajectory, wherein the at least one stationary actuator comprises a first stationary actuator disposed at a first end of the trajectory. 9. The card press carriage of claim 7, wherein another actuator is located at the second end of the track. 20. The actuator of claim 20, wherein the second actuator has a second stationary actuator disposed at a second end of the track.
Carriage of 19 card press machines.